The Lockheed Model 14 Super Electra made a
record for circling the globe -- in 3 days, 19 hours and 14 minutes with
eccentric millionaire Howard Hughes piloting. One thousand police officers
were on hand at New York's Floyd Bennett Field to control the throngs of
people who showed up to greet Hughes.

The Lockheed Hudson light bomber of World War 2 was a
military development of the Model 14 Super Electra commercial airliner.
Although the Hudson saw relatively little combat in American hands during
World War 2, the aircraft was extensively used by British, Australian, and New
Zealand air forces. The Hudson was actually the first American-designed combat
aircraft to destroy an enemy aircraft in actual combat, although it was with a
Royal Air Force crew that this was achieved. When Lend-Lease was introduced in
1941, the Hudson was assigned the designation A-28 and A-29 in the USAAF
attack series. This was primarily for administrative purposes, since
relatively few Hudsons served with USAAF units. However, an A-29 was the first
Army Air Force aircraft to score a successful attack on a German U-boat.

The Model 14 Super Electra airliner first appeared in 1937.
It was designed by a team headed by Hall Hibbard and Clarence "Kelly" Johnson
to compete against the new Douglas DST/DC-3 commercial transport. The aircraft
was of low-wing, twin-engine, twin-tailed format, and bore an obvious family
resemblance to the earlier Model 10 Electra but was somewhat larger. The
transport featured a highly-loaded wing of relatively small span and area,
chosen so as to achieve a high cruising speed. Fowler flaps were adopted which
were designed to reduce landing speeds but also augmented effective wing area
to reduce the takeoff distance. This marked the first use of Fowler flaps on a
production aircraft. The fuselage was deeper than that of previous Lockheed
airliners, making it unnecessary for passengers to step over the wing truss as
was necessary in the Lockheed Models 10 and 12. Cabin length could accommodate
either 14 passengers in single seats on each side of the central aisle or ten
to eleven passengers with a galley and a cabin attendant. The wing had
optional fixed wing slots (later made standard), fully-feathering propellers,
and integral fuel tanks.

The prototype (c/n 1401, civilian registry X17382) flow for
the firat time on July 29, 1937 with Marshall Headle at the controls. It was
powered by a pair of Pratt & Whitney Hornet S1E-G air-cooled radial engines,
each rated at 875 hp for takeoff and 750 hp at 7000 feet.

To attract customers, Lockheed offered a broad choice of
power plants, including two versions of the Pratt & Whitney Hornet, five
versions of the Wright Cyclone, and one version of the Pratt & Whitney Twin
Wasp. On November 15, 1937, an Approved Type Certificate was awarded, covering
the Hornet S1E-G-powered Model 14-H and the Hornet S1E2-G-powered Model 14-H2.

A total of 52 Hornet-powered Super Electra were built
between July 1937 and June 1940. 20 of them were Model 14Hs (including the
prototype, eight aircraft for Northwest Airlines, one for Guinea Airways, and
ten for the Polish airline LOT. 32 were Model 14-H2s (18 for Trans-Canada Air
Lines, with the remainder going to five other airlines and one to a private
customer).

After being operated briefly by TACA, c/n 1401 was taken
back by Lockheed and modified as a prototype for a proposed cargo version. A
hunchbacked fuselage was fitted to make the aircraft capable of carrying
bulkier loads, and a large loading door was provided. Re-designated Model
C-14H-1, the aircraft was tested briefly by the the Army Air Corps at Wright
Field. However, the Army found the Model C-14H-1 unsuitable for military
service, and the aircraft was converted back to Model 14-H standard and was
returned to passenger service in Brazil as PP-AVB and was later sold to an
airline in Nicaragua as AN-TAB.

The Model 14-WF62 was produced for the export market. It
was powered by a pair of Wright Cyclone SGR-1820-F62 radials, each rated at
900 hp for takeoff and 760 hp at 5800 feet. The rudders were modified with
static balances to prevent tail flutter. 21 examples of this version were
built, with 11 going to KLM and KNILM beginning in February of 1938, eight to
British Airways, and the last two going to Aer Lingus in Ireland in May of
1939.

The Model 14-N was powered by Wright Cyclone engines of the
G-series, which offered a takeoff rating of 1100 hp and a maximum rating of
900 hp between 6000 and 6700 feet. The four examples built were all sold to
private owners. Two of them had GR-1820-G105 engines and one had -G105A
engines. They were fitted with deluxe interiors for use as executive
transports. The last one (c/n 1419, civil registry NX18973) was designated
Model 14-N2 and was specially built for Howard Hughes. It was powered by
GR-1820-G102 engines. This aircraft was fitted with extra fuselage tanks to
supplement the four integral tanks in the wing, increasing total fuel tapacity
to 1844 US gallons. Additional radio and navigational equipment, as well as
flotation bags and extra supplies, were installed in the fuselage. Five crew
members could be accommodated, three forward and two aft of the cabin fuel
tanks. This aircraft was used by Howard Hughes to carry out a round-the-world
flight in July of 1938. Hughes and his crew left Floyd Bennett Field in New
York on July 10, 1938 and returned to the same field four days later via
Paris, Moscow, Omsk, Yakutsk, Fairbanks, and Minneapolis. Total flying time
for the 14,672 miles was 91 hours 14 minutes 10 seconds, with an average speed
of 206.1 mph.

Click on Picture to enlarge

The first launch customer for the Super Electra was
Northwest Airlines, which first introduced it into service on the run between
the Twin Cities (Minneapolis/St. Paul) and Chicago in October of 1937. There
were early problems with tail flutter, which required that balanced tail
surfaces be retrofitted. Unfortunately, there were three Super Electra crashes
while in Northwest Airlines service, which caused the airline to dispose of
its entire Super Electra fleet during the summer of 1939 and replace them with
DC-3s. The only other US airlines to use the type were Santa Maria Airlines
(just one aircraft) and Continental Airlines (two examples).

The Super Electra had somewhat greater success overseas,
with six major carriers acquiring 21 Hornet-powered and 53 Cyclone-powered
aircraft. The first overseas customer was the Dutch airline KLM and its East
Indies subsidiary KNILM. The high performance of the Super Electra was
especially useful on the long Amsterdam-Batavia route. British Airways also
acquired four Super Electra's for use on its routes from the UK to West Africa
and on to South America. British Airways also acquired the Super Electra,
using one of its first examples to fly Prime Minister Neville Chamberlin to
the Munich conference on September 15, 1938. The British Airways Super
Electras were primarily used on European routes including services to Berlin
and Warsaw. LOT, LARES, Aer Lingus, and Regie Air Afrique also ordered Super
Electra. Trans-Canada Air Lines ordered 16 examples.

Japan turned out to be the largest user of the Super
Electra. Thirty Super Electra's were sold to the Tachikawa Hikoki KK (Tachikawa
Aeroplane Co Ltd of Japan, which acted as an agent for Nihon Koku KK (Japan
Air Transport Co. Ltd.). This airline was later renamed Dai Nippon Koku KK
(Greater Japan Air Lines), and became the largest commercial user of the Super
Electra. This version of the Super Electra was known as Model 14-WG3B, and was
powered by two Wright Cyclone GR-1820-G3B radials, rated at 900 hp for takeoff
and 840 hp at 8000 feet. The Tachikawa company also obtained a license to
build a version of the Super Electra in Japan. Production for the Imperial
Japanese Army was undertaken both by Tachikawa and by Kawasaki Kokuki Kogyo KK
(Kawasaki Aircraft Engineering Co. Ltd. These companies respectively built 64
and 55 aircraft between 1940 and 1942. They were powered by Mitsubishi Ha-26-I
(900 hp Army Type 99 Radial Model 1) engines. In Japanese army service, they
were designated Army Type LO Transports, and were operated as military
transports during the Pacific War. The Allies assigned the code name Thelma
to the Japanese-built version and the name Toby to the civilian
versions purchased from Lockheed.

A single example was delivered to the US Navy as XR4O-1 in
October of 1938. It was a staff transport version of the Model 14-H2 powered
by two 850 hp Pratt & Whitney R-1690-52 radials Only one was built.

During the early days of the Pacific War, four Model
14-WF62s from the KNILM were flown to Australia to avoid capture by the
Japanese. These planes were purchased by the USAAF for service with the ADAT
(Allied Directorate of Air Transport). One crashed almost immediately, but the
other three (c/ns 1414, 1442, and 1443) were assigned the USAAF designation of
C-111 and assigned the US military serials 44-83233/83235 and the Australian
civilian registration VH-CXI/VH/CXK

In many respects, the Super Electra was more advanced than
the Douglas DC-2 which had a similar capacity. It had the advantage of being
equipped with more powerful engines which gave it a twenty percent higher
cruising speed. When compared to the DC-3, which had a 50 percent larger
capacity and similar set of engines, the Super Electra had a similar speed
advantage but was less economical. The wider cabin and larger capacity of the
DC-3 made it a much more comfortable plane for passengers than was the
relatively narrow cabin of the Super Electra. Consequently, except for those
airlines which placed a high value on exceptional cruise performance, the
Super Electra was at a distinct disadvantage when competing against the
Douglas transports. Its belated entry into the commercial market turned out to
be an additional problem that could never be overcome and only 112 Super
Electras were built between July 1937 and June of 1940.

Specification of Lockheed Model 14-WF62 Super Electra:

Engines: Two Wright Cyclone SGR-1820-F62 radials, each
rated at 900 hp for takeoff and 760 hp at 5800 feet.

The Lockheed Model 14
Super Electra, built by the Lockheed Aircraft Corporation of Burbank,
California, was a contemporary of the Douglas DC-2, designated R2D, q.v., in
U.S. Navy (USN) service, but was a more advanced design with more powerful
engines giving it a higher cruising speed. Lockheed had determined that an
aircraft larger than the Model 10 Electra, designated R2O and R3O, q.v., in
USN and U.S. Coast Guard service, was required to compete against the DC-2 and
DC-3. (The DC-3 was designated R4D, q.v., in USN service.) The Models 10 and
12 had be designed as passenger transports but the Model 14 was designed to
operate in either in either a passenger/cargo or all-cargo payloads. Like the
Models 10 and 12, the Model 14 was an all-metal, twin-engined, twin-tail,
monoplane with a retractable main landing gear and fixed tail wheel. However,
unlike the Models 10 and 12, the Model 14 was a midwing monoplane equipped
with Fowler flaps and a deep elliptical fuselage that could accommodate a
pilot and copilot and either (1)14-passengers in seven rows or (2) ten to
eleven passengers with a galley and a flight attendant. Construction of the
first aircraft began in 1937 and it made it's first flight was on 29 July
1937. This aircraft was produced in five versions, the major difference being
the engines.

A total of 112 Model 14's were built by Lockheed. The first
U.S. commercial airline to operate the Model 14 was Northwest Airlines which
placed it in service in September 1937; additional U.S. airline customers
included Continental Airlines and Santa Maria Airlines. Non-U.S. commercial
operators were in Australia (Guinea Airways), Canada (Trans-Canada Air Lines),
France (Air Afrique), Ireland (Aer Lingus), Japan (Japan Air Transport Co.),
Netherlands (KLM), Netherlands East Indies (KNILM), Poland (LOT), Portugese
East Africa (DETA), Romania (LARES), UK (British Airways) and Venezuela (LAV).

Northwest Airlines purchased a total of eleven Model 14's
and, in October 1937, became the first airline to operate the aircraft in
commercial service. The public were impressed with the aircraft and praised
it's high cruising speed but the Model 14 also had a high seat-mile cost.
Problems began on 16 May 1938 when a Northwest Airlines Model 14-H2 crashed on
landing. This crash was caused by tail flutter and this was corrected by
retrofitting balanced control surfaces. This initial crash was quickly
followed by two other crashes of Northwest Model 14's, one on 8 July 1938 and
the second on 13 January 1939. These two crashes were not related to tail
flutter but the overall result was that the public lost confidence in the
Model 14 and Northwest sold all of their Model 14's during the summer of 1939
and purchased DC-3's. The Model 14 was Lockheed's largest aircraft at the time
and in an attempt to produce another plane, Lockheed began work on the Model
18 Lodestar which was designated R5O, q.v., in USN service.

In 1938, the Japanese firm Tachikawa Aeroplane Co. Ltd.
obtained the manufacturing licence rights and built 64 aircraft; an additional
55 were built by Kawasaki as the Army Type 1 Freight Transport or Kawasaki
Ki-56, Allied Code Name Thalia.

The USN ordered one Model 14-H2 as a staff transport and
designated it XR4O-1. In March 1942, four KNILM Model 14-WF62's were flown
from Java to Australia to avoid capture by the Japanese. One crashed and the
other three were purchased by the U.S. and assigned to the U.S. Army Air
Forces (USAAF) and designated C-111-LO's.

In the late 1930's the Royal Air Force (RAF) began looking
for a replacement for the short-ranged Avro 652A Anson then in service with
RAF Coastal Command. In February 1938, Lockheed began preliminary design
studies for a bomber version of the Model 14 for the British Purchasing
Commission (BPC). The proposed aircraft retained the wing, tail surfaces and
engines of the Model 14 but the fuselage was modified to include a dorsal
turret, and ventral hatch; a bomb bay; and navigator and bombardier positions
in the nose. In April, the mock up was shown to the BPC and after discussions
and modifications, an order was placed on 23 June 1938 for 200 Model B14L's as
the new aircraft was designated. These aircraft went on to fame as the
Lockheed Hudson Mark I; subsequent Hudson's had strengthened airframe
components and were designated Model 414's and were designated Hudson Mk. II
through VI by the RAF. The Hudson was the first U.S.-built aircraft to see
operational service with the RAF in World War II. The order for 200 aircraft
caused a storm in the U.K. because many people felt that all aircraft for the
British military should be built in the U.K.

The finalized version of the B14L had a crew of five, i.e.,
(2) the navigator who sat in the nose, (2) the bombardier who lay prone on the
floor behind the navigator and sighted through Plexiglas panels in the
undersurface of the aircraft, (3) the pilot who sat in the cockpit, (4) the
radio operator who sat behind the pilot and (5) the gunner who operated the
rear turret. A jump seat was located next to the pilot and a crewman or second
pilot could sit there. Armament consisted of five .303 caliber (7.7 mm)
machine guns, two fixed guns in the nose, two in a Boulton Paul turret aft of
the entrance door and one in a retractable prone position beneath the
fuselage. Later models provided for two .303 caliber (7.7 mm) machine guns in
the waist positions. The bomb bay could accommodate 1,400 pounds (635 kg) of
bomb or depth charges.

On 11 March 1941, President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed
the Lend-Lease Bill and the U.S. Army Air Corps (USAAC), superseded by the
USAAF on 20 June 1941, assumed responsibility for ordering all Model 414's for
U.S. and Lend-Lease delivery. The Hudson's ordered by the USAAF were
designated A-28-LO, A-28A-LO, A-29-LO, A-29A-LO, A-29B-LO, AT-18-LO and
AT-18A-LO depending on the aircraft's mission and whether Wright or Pratt &
Whitney engines were installed..

An order for 416 A-29-LO's was placed on 29 May 1941; these
aircraft were designated Hudson Mk. IIIA's in RAF and Royal Canadian Air Force
(RCAF) service however, the first 20 aircraft from this order were diverted to
the USN and designated PBO-1 becoming the USN's first land based patrol
bomber. All were delivered in standard RAF camouflage, i.e., Dark Green and
Dark Earth upper surfaces and light gray under surfaces however, they were
equipped with .30-caliber (7.62 mm) machine guns.

Production History

PBO-1: Twenty A-29-LO's ordered by the USAAF for Lend-Lease
to the RAF as Hudson Mk IIIA's were diverted to the USN. They were powered by
two 1,200 hp (895 kW) Wright R-1820-87 nine-cylinder, single-row, air-cooled,
radial engines driving three-bladed Hamilton-Standard Hydromantic
constant-speed propellers.